Advertising Industry Archive

The day after the election of Barack Obama as president, I called my favorite lobbyist, Dan Jaffe of the Association of National Advertisers, to ask him what he thought was in store for the advertising business. Here’s what he told me: BNET: What is this new administration going to do for advertisers and marketers? Dan Jaffe: It’s going to be a little tricky to tell, some of the...

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Media buyers are shocked — shocked! — that Levi’s wants to get an accurate idea of what agencies are paying for their ad buys. This is presented as some sort of confidentiality breach in today’s Ad Age, which says that in the jeansmaker’s recent agency review Levi’s asked “shops to reveal sensitive price data for other clients …[that] could...

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Outdoor ad provider Lamar Advertising yesterday played host to one of the most brutal, depressing analyst conference calls I’ve ever heard. This was significant because Lamar claims to be the country’s largest outdoor ad provider, and thus it arguably functions as a proxy for the ad biz as a whole. While a number of recent ad agency earnings calls have been somewhat depressing, the...

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There’s something strange in the water at GSD&M Idea City. (Can’t we just all agree to go back to calling it plain old GSD&M?) The Texas agency’s latest campaign for the U.S. Air Force is titled “Horror Meets Comedy.” You can write your own jokes from this point — they write themselves, really. Suffice to say, the title is more than a little poignant given that the...

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One way to understand the wave of layoffs that is running (or about to run) through IPG, WPP, Publicis and Omnicom is to look at how effective ad agency employees are at making money for their companies. The answer is often “not very,” especially when you compare them to their counterparts in the much less glamorous direct marketing business. The context: Omnicom’s John Wren...

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The concept behind Grey Global Group’s “Obamccain” image — in which the two candidates have their ethnicity digitally reversed — bears an interesting resemblance to an outdoor project by Jersey City artist Ron English, titled “Obamaham Lincoln.” Grey released its image Nov. 3 in the hopes of encouraging everyone to vote, and to spark discussion about...

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Google denies it, but no one believes them. Everyone thinks there’s a hiring freeze at the company. And by “everyone” we’re referring to ZDNet, CNBC, and the WSJ. (Why else would they run with the denial?) On its face, it does seem implausible. Check out the company’s Q3 numbers: Revenues up by more than $1 billion. Net income up around $300 million. Cashflow...

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Starbucks reprimanded for Election Day offer — Turns out the coffee chain’s friendly marketing ploy — a free cup of coffee for anyone who votes — is illegal. Washington state officials notified Starbucks today that offering remuneration in exchange for voting is against state and federal election law. Starbucks quickly modified the offer to a free cup of joe for all...

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Sir Martin Sorrell, chief of agency holding company WPP, inserted a curious rant about economics into his third quarter earnings press release. WPP – which includes ad agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather, JWT and Grey Global Group – normally makes a fairly staid statement of its finances and restricts its commentary to corporate strategy and lists of regions and businesses that are...

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Seventh Generation, the eco-friendly detergent maker, is spending $1 million on a redesign of its products and an ad campaign to promote them. A story in Brandweek notes that unlike Tom’s of Maine and Burt’s Bees, this green brand is “not part of an effort to be acquired.” This isn’t surprising. Clorox is beating the pants off the brand in the green market, raising...

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